In pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 566,517, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,897, it is disclosed that tetracyclines, such as the antibiotic tetracyclines, e.g. tetracycline, are useful as anti-collagenolytic agents or as inhibitors of collagenase. These tetracyclines and compositions containing the same are disclosed therein as being useful in the treatment of periodontal diseases, corneal ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis and the like characterized by excessive collagen destruction.
In pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 699,048, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,383, it is disclosed that the non-antibiotic or non-antibacterial tetracyclines also possess anti-collagenolytic properties and are useful as inhibitors of collagenase. Additionally, these non-antibiotic or non-antibacterial tetracyclines have also been found to be useful in the treatment of periodontal diseases, corneal ulcers, bone deficiency disorders due to excess collagenase production or excessivde collagen destruction, rheeumatoid arthristis and the like. A particularly useful non-antibiotic tetracycline in the practices of this invention is the tetracycline dedimethylaminotetracycline.
Tetracyclines are useful as broad spectrum antibiotics because they have the ability to inhibit protein synthesis in a wide variety of bacteria. As disclosed in the above-identified pending patent applications, it has also been discovered that tetracyclines, antibiotic tetracyclines and non-antibiotic tetracyclines, have th ability to inhibit collagen-destructive enzymes, such as collagenase, responsiple for the breakdown of connective tissue in a number of diseases, such as periodontal disease, corneal ulcers and rheumatoid arthritis.